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UNLOCKED: #506 - Merchant Prince (Patreon)

Published:
2024-03-10 23:18:43
Imported:
2026-06
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Blank

Speaking of separate audio tracks, I assume the guys record in the sound booth one at a time with a metronome instead of the other host

Sam Schick

👃👓👈 you purchases the sm7b to be exact and likely were encouraged to purchase the cloudlifter in-line preamp to give a 20db signal boost to your interface device, likely a 2 channel Focusrite Scarlett.

Dan

Am I the only one who thought of the 2001 Blu Cantrell song "Hit 'Em up style" every time you mentioned Nieman Marcus?

Neoinean21

Even in the 80s, Texas wasn't cold enough for a fur coat lol.

Brian

I was a sales manager at Canada’s high end men’s retailer « Harry Rosen » for many years. The cultural advisor observation is very astute. I got very sick of pretending that I could afford to eat at the same restaurants as my clients. I sold a few $20,000 tuxedos and coats and I can confirm that these rich people are dying to be convinced to buy stupid shit!

Anthony

That was my review! Glad you both got a kick out of it. Cheers from Pennsylvania.

Evan Hiltunen

So when is that small soldiers ep dropping 👀

David
>>132059570

Luke's story gave me flashbacks to a fond Christmas memory of getting two very cool Small Soldiers action figures. Had Tommy Lee Jones' voice and everything

Cameron F

All of the employee culture brainwashing that was discussed reminded me of a charming doc I just watched, "Tanaka-san Will Not Do Calisthenics." It tells the story of a man who refused to put up with that kind of corporate bullshit, got fired, and proceeded to spend the next 25 years (at the time of release in 2008) protesting daily outside the company. I looked him up, and he's still at it. The full film's available online for those interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpkoNRfU0nU

Mid-Sized SeDan

I've had a rough couple of days, and this episode really was a warm salve. The part about the attachments we form with objects that hold no practical value to us I found very moving, and always love the behind-the-scenes insights on your process. Thank you for all you do. The Store was my first Wiseman so I was very happy to see you guys cover it. Out of interest, is there something to the idea that Neiman Marcus actually does, in some way, represent an older form of capitalism where wage work was less transitory? Not sure I can articulate it, but while obviously all the company culture stuff is bullshit, it does seem that the workers here have a greater degree of permanence (or at least an expectation for it) than many wage workers today. Or perhaps that's less about the company than the time this was shot, when labor laws and unions were presumably stronger. Or perhaps I'm inventing a past that doesn't exist.

Mark K

Marketing exec: Gentlemen, I’m pleased to report strong holiday sales from the Christmas/Hanu/Kwanzaa spend phase and things look good for the mom/dad/grad gift corridor. Then we'll have the usual summer lull, but...hey, we're making enough money, right? (is immediately dragged out by security) Boss: Okay, people, we need to cook up a new holiday for the summer, something with gifts, cards, assorted gougeables. Marge Simpson: Happy Love Day everyone!

Kat Sedia

Ok so as someone who teaches a class on this: Luke is correct about mid-market fashion retail basically collapsing , leaving behind only low- and high-end (NM now being one of the latter and ironically in the possession of Bergdorf Goodman, a very New York institution). I can also add that Gilles Lipovetsky identified 2 stages of modern fashion: top down v peer to peer diffusion, which started in the sixties, came into its own with punk, and is currently dominating, with the top-down authorities like fashion magazines and editors becoming rapidly obsolete. Also: left critique of the consumerism does exist but it is pretty much subsumed into environmental movement. Fast fashion, with its pretense at democratic access, is depressing wages, causing tremendous environmental harm, and is just a nightmare in terms of its overall impact. It was ostensibly created to make fashion more accessible but it also turned clothing into something we use up rather than use. This is a wider movement than just fashion — to use Luke’s example, why buy a new TV? Because your old one has built-in planned obsolescence and will simply die on you in a few years. Consumption is accelerated by these design choices, which of course means increasingly accelerating environmental harm, labor abuses etc etc.

Mark K

The history of department stores is fascinating. They started in France and were one of the first to introduce the innovation of fixed prices for goods (before that you had to haggle). Emile Zola, who was the Frederick Wiseman of his day, wrote a novel about the department store called The Ladies Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) that seems not so different from 1980s Nieman Marcus. From ChatGPT: "The novel explores themes of capitalism, consumerism, and the changing urban landscape. It depicts the transformation of shopping into a seductive and democratic experience that appeals especially to women, offering them a world of goods and pleasures previously unimaginable. Denise's story is set against the backdrop of the ruthless business tactics of the store's owner, Octave Mouret, who seeks to expand his empire by any means necessary, often at the expense of the small businesses he drives out of existence. Zola's work is notable for its detailed descriptions of the store and its operations, from the intricacies of its sales strategies to the layout of its departments, making it an important document of the era's socio-economic changes. Through the microcosm of the department store, Zola addresses broader themes of power, ambition, love, and the struggle for survival in a rapidly modernizing world."

Zachary Gamble

What song did Luke sing at 48:37? It’s killing me.

Rudy

I’d love to hear an episode on Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show!

Ambrose Honeysuckle

I wonder if Luke is familiar with some of Chris Hedges’ work from the aughts? Specifically, ‘Empire of Illusion’ and ‘Death of the Liberal Class’ offer excoriating essays about consumerism and its hijacking of political movement building.

Ambrose Honeysuckle
>>132286899

Especially the episode where he argued that America’s shitty social services were the “price of freedom.”